1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for processing poultry carcasses and more particularly a system for automatically injecting a flavor-enhancing additive into the poultry carcass at a pre-selected point on the carcass in an amount dependent upon the weight of the carcass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been known for years that the injection of various flavor-enhancing additives such as edible animal or vegetable oils into poultry flesh is beneficial. Various manual systems for injecting a flavor-enhancing additive into the poultry carcass are known to the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,511,164 and 3,682,087 disclose a hand-held tool for simultaneously injecting a flavor-enhancing additive into both breast muscles of a turkey carcass. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,804,954 and 3,556,808 disclose means of controling the amount of flavor-enhancing additive manually injected dependent upon the measured weight of the carcass.
All of the systems known to the prior art for injecting flavor-enhancing additives into poultry carcasses are manually controlled because the wide disparity in the size and shape of poultry carcasses has previously made automatic mechanical systems capable of injecting the fluid at the proper position of the carcass infeasible. The additive is typically injected in the pectoralis superficialis muscle (breast) of the turkey adjacent the wishbone. To avoid penetration of the carcass skin, the needle is inserted longitudinally along the muscle fiber from the posterior edge adjacent the posterior evisceral vent opening, after the skin has been partially pulled away. Because turkey carcasses vary substantially in both size and shape, the exact point of needle insertion varies from carcass to carcass. Thus, manual systems heretofore have been the only feasible method of properly injecting all sizes of carcasses at the correct location on all carcasses. Similarly, automatic systems for other aspects of carcass processing such as evisceration, etc. have been infeasible for carcasses that vary significantly in size and shape since the exact position of the evisceral opening or other critical portion of the anatomy of the carcass varies from carcass to carcass.
The present system overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art by providing a fully automated system that determines the relative position of the critical portions of the anatomy of each carcass as it is being conveyed. The carcass processing tool is then moved to the correct position so that the desired task can be performed, i.e., evisceration or needle insertion. The system may also weigh the carcass and automatically adjust the amount of flavor-enhancing additive injected in proper proportion to the carcass weight.